The Senate has voted in favor of every Internet-using American. By a vote of 52-47, senators approved Sen. Ed Markey’s (MA) Resolution to repeal the Federal Communications Commission’s February 2018 action that rescinded the 2015 Open Internet Order.

This is an updated draft resource from U.S. PIRG Education Fund and The Center for Digital Democracy: FinTech and Consumers: A Preliminary Overview of Important Consumer, Privacy, Small Business, and Civil Rights Issues.

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument in English v. Trump, a case involving a challenge to President Trump’s appointment of Mick Mulvaney as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). U.S. PIRG, along with nine other consumer advocacy groups, has filed two amicus briefs in the case (one in the trial court and one in the appellate court) in support of the plaintiff, Leandra English, who is the CFPB’s deputy director and, we believe, the rightful acting director of the agency.

All consumers pay more at the store and more at the pump because anti-competitive rules, practices and card acceptance (swipe) fees by credit companies and networks force merchants to raise prices on all consumers, including cash customers. We've been involved in Congress and the courts for years, on the side of merchants. This is U.S. PIRG Education Fund's friend of the court brief filed in the Supreme Court in support of a bi-partisan coalition of state attorneys general challenging American Express anti-steering rules that prevent merchants from advising consumers of alternative, lower-cost payment methods. We were joined by nine other leading groups, including Public Citizen, National Consumer Law Center and Consumers Union.

This is an amicus (or friend of the court) brief filed in U.S. District Court in support of plaintiff Leandra English, appointed acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by outgoing director Richard Cordray. It was filed today by Public Citizen, Americans for Financial Reform, U.S. PIRG Education Fund and other leading consumer organizations in support of a motion seeking a preliminary injunction concerning who is the lawful acting director of the Consumer Bureau. Leandra English seeks to block the president's conflicting appointment of White House Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney to be acting CFPB director, (while incidentally also continuing to run OMB). The case is Leandra English vs. Donald J. Trump and John M. Mulvaney.

For over 30 years, U.S. PIRG Education Fund has conducted an annual survey of toy safety, which has led to over 150 recalls and other regulatory actions over the years, and has helped educate the public and policymakers on the need for continued action to protect the health and wellbeing of children.

Toys are safer than ever before, thanks to decades of work by product safety advocates, parents, the leadership of Congress, state legislatures, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Among the toys surveyed this year, we found potential choking hazards, and two products with concentrations of lead exceeding federal standards for children’s products. We also found data-collecting toys that may violate children’s privacy laws. This report not only lists the potentially dangerous toys that we found this year, but also describes why and how the toys could harm children. The continued presence of hazards in toys highlights the need for constant vigilance on the part of government agencies and the public to ensure that unsafe toys do not harm children.